World champ Eve Pell on love of her life, and joint 150th birthday

Itâ€™s one of the sweetest stories youâ€™ll ever read about masters in love. Despite its sad ending, Eve Pellâ€™s first-person essay in The New York Times Thursday will remind you why running in old age is no different from that of youth. Great headline, too: The Race Grows Sweeter Near Its Final Lap. Eve writes: â€śWe traveled to Italy to compete in the 2007 World Masters Athletics Championships (what I fondly call â€śThe Geriatric Olympicsâ€ť), where we both won gold medals in our respective age brackets: 70 to 74 for me and 80 to 84 for Sam. At home, we planted a garden; I finished writing a memoir. Every morning we did push-ups; every evening we sat on the rim of our bathtub and flossed our teeth. He called me â€śsweetheart.â€ť He never forgot an anniversary, including our first movie date. I gave him flowers on Bettyâ€™s birthday.â€ť Read the whole story and be glad sheâ€™s one of us. (And thanks to lovebird Nadine Oâ€™Connor for the link!)

Agree with Anthony. A very moving story, and a very nice woman at the center of it.

Mike Fanelli - January 27, 2013

theirs was the most compellingly beautiful love story that I have ever known

Grant Lamothe - January 28, 2013

Agree with the sentiments expressed by Anthony, Peter and Mike. Touching and moving story.

I know a few people in their 50’s, 60’s and beyond who are divorced or widowed/widowered and have given up on the idea of finding a love relationship thinking that’s it’s too late for various not-always-well-perceived reasons. Perhaps I should encourage them to read Eve’s story. I think I will: the world, or at least the world of the older formerly marrieds, can use more stories like hers.

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About Ken Stone

Ken Stone

Ken has followed track as an athlete, writer and web-master since the late 1960s, and saw most sessions of track and field at the 1984 Los Angeles and 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He also attended the 1988, 1992, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Trials, the last three as a blogger and Patch correspondent. [More...]